[Llarry]

In the mid-1960s, the Central Intelligence Agency procured three Lockheed P-3A Orion patrol planes with plans to provide them to the ROCAF in Taiwan. The 'Black Bats' of the ROCAF 34th Squadron flew missions over mainland China for years from the early '50s, using surplus U.S. aircraft such as B-17s, C-47s, etc. In some cases, with the assistance of the U.S., missions were staged from South Korea and Southeast Asia. In the early 1960s, the 34th got a major upgrade when they were given Lockheed P-2 Neptune aircraft and they subsequently flew many extremely hazardous night missions at low level over the People's Republic of China. The P-2s dropped agents into China, dropped sensor packages developed by the CIA, distributed anti-Communist leaflets, mapped out the locations of Chinese radars (and later SAM sites), etc. Their missions were flown at low level to avoid or minimize detection by radar and they skirted around known sites with searchlights or antiaircraft guns. Quite a few missions ended in disaster with the aircraft shot down and the crews dead or captured. Frequently Chinese fighters would be attempting to shoot them down, although the Chinese air force capabilities at night were poor.

The supply of ROCAF P-2s dwindled as shootdowns reduced their numbers and in about 1965 or so, the CIA arranged with the Navy to acquire three P-3As for conversion into P-2 replacements for the 34th squadron. One aircraft stayed in the U.S. for use in testing equipment etc and two airplanes flew to Taiwan. The CIA was perfectly aware of the dangers faced by the 34th and initially planned to use the P-3As for offshore recon and training missions. But the political climate was changing and the U.S. ultimately prohibited the P-3As from conducting overland night missions as originally envisioned. After just a year or so, the P-3As were withdrawn and flown back to the U.S. The whole program was highly classified; on a number of occasions the aircraft were flown from Taiwan to U.S. Navy facilities in the Far East for maintenance; when that was done, it was arranged for the aircraft to arrive and depart in hours of darkness and they were pulled into hangars where they would be not observed udring the maintenance periods. However, on one occasion, a flight was delayed and a sailor nearby snapped a photo.

Fast forward a couple of years and the Navy had these ex-Taiwanese modified P-3As and decided to make signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection aircraft out of them. Just like the CIA, one was kept as a development aircraft for systems and two were destined for operational missions. They were designated as EP-3B and nicknamed 'Batrack' aircraft.

At the time, the standard Navy SIGINT platform was the aged Lockheed EC-121 Constellation; the two EP-3Bs had much better performance and could fly at greater altitudes, thus improving the range of the "look" of sensors and receivers. The war in Vietnam caused the assignment of both operational EP-3Bs to Fleet Air Recon Squadron ONE (VQ-1) and the aircraft flew missions out of Danang, Vietnam.

But as U.S. involvement in the war wound down, it was decided to reposition the VQ-1 aircraft to the Philippines.

The crews of the EP-3Bs were pretty large compared to the original patrol planes: In addition to the expected pilots, flight engineer and communications tech, there were are large number of Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) specialist and a number of communications intelligence (COMINT) techs, primarily Vietnamese linguists. The crew totalled about 30.

In the spring of 1973 the writing was on the wall and the U.S. involvement in the war was winding down rapidly. It was decided to temporarily assign a couple of Chinese linguists to the unit in the Philippines to see what might be heard. The Naval Security Group units in Taiwan and Okinawa were each tasked with providing one Chinese linguist for a period of about 90 days. I was in Okinawa at the time and was tapped to go fly in the Phillipines for a while.

All my 20 or so missions in the EP-3B were flown in the same aircraft -- side number PR 32. On one mission when we returned the other aircraft, PR 31, was present on the base but soon departed.

The missions were pretty boring from an intelligence collection standpoint; as I told the OIC once, it seemed like every person in Vietnam had a radio and they just chattered away like crazy all the time; if there were any Chinese out there, how could they get a word in edgewise? Anyway, I qualified for my Naval Aircrewman wings, which was cool -- the more you have on your chest, the better, huh? and got a few months of tax-free income and a ribbon or something.

Here's a picture of EP-3B Bureau number 149669 (PR 32) in the summer of '73. And a somewhat fuzzy picture of one of the 34th squadron P-3As from the 1960s.

Post-script: The two operational EP-3Bs were joined by ten more advanced EP-3Es in the 1970-80s. Over the years the aircraft were upgraded with advanced systems. One of them -- on a mission about where I flew decades before -- was struck by a harrassing Chinese fighter in 2001 and ended up making an emergency landing in China. Over the years, the original tired airframes were replaced with conversions of newer P-3C Orion patrol planes and are still flying today.